What Family Situations Require Medicaid Planning?
Kansas Medicaid planning lawyers guide families through Medicaid planning for different life stages
Medicaid planning is the careful use of estate planning tools to help a Medicaid applicant meet Medicaid eligibility guidelines while also protecting their assets from being countable assets. Medicaid requires potential Medicaid beneficiaries to meet set income and asset limits to qualify to receive benefits. If the person applying for Medicaid benefits has countable assets over the Medicaid eligibility limits, they have to “spend down” those excess assets before they are eligible to receive benefits. Family situations which require Medicaid planning include:
Healthy individuals and couples who are planning for future long-term care
The best time to plan for Medicaid eligibility is when you are healthy and do not foresee the need to receive Medicaid benefits soon. This is because Medicaid eligibility rules include a five-year look-back period. Assets transferred or given away as a gift during the look-back period are still considered countable assets for the Medicaid applicant. This means individuals and couples who plan for the need for long-term care while they are healthy are able to maximize their asset protection.
Only one spouse needs long-term care
It is common for one spouse to require long-term care while the other spouse remains healthy. Unfortunately, covering the costs of one spouse’s long-term care needs often quickly depletes assets and resources the couple have together, leaving the healthy spouse with no resources to live on. In these cases, Medicaid planning helps separate the couple’s assets so the spouse needing long-term care is able to receive the care they need while also financially protecting resources for the healthy spouse so they may continue living in their home.
Both spouses need long-term care
When both spouses need long-term care, there is no longer one healthy spouse able to continue to provide support and care for the other spouse. The burden for providing long-term care needs for the couple often shifts to other family members, such as their adult children. This has the potential to not only quickly deplete the couple’s assets and resources but also bankrupt the family trying to provide for the cost of the couple’s care. The stress of providing for the long-term care needs of their parents in addition to the needs of their own family become overwhelming quickly. Skilled Medicaid planning helps relieve this burden from the couple’s family and protect the assets and resources of the entire family.
Skilled Kansas Medicaid planning lawyers help families qualify for Medicaid benefits to protect them during challenging life events
It is best to plan for the potential need for Medicaid benefits well before you need them. The compassionate Medicaid planning attorneys at Stockton & Kandt, LLC. have the experience necessary to act as your trusted advisors and guide you through the complex Medicaid planning process. Our lawyers are knowledgeable in today’s Medicaid and estate planning laws. To schedule an appointment, call us at 913-856-2828 or contact us online today. Our convenient office locations include Gardner and Overland Park, and we are available to meet you at your home if needed.